Yearbook for Ritual and Liturgical Studies IRiLiS / CRH Vol. 36 (2020) 83–97 • https://doi.org/10.21827/YRLS.36.83-97 “For your Faithful Lord, Life is Changed not Ended” The Roman Catholic Funeral Rite in Flanders and the Paschal Mystery Samuel Goyvaerts Abstract Since Vatican II, the paschal mystery has become the focal point of all liturgy, a development that also has consequences for the Roman Catholic funeral liturgy. Celebrating the funeral in the context of the Eucharist underscores the concept of the paschal mystery very explicitly. Since 2011, a number of factors has led to the funeral liturgy without Eucharist becoming the liturgical norm in Flanders. This paper investigates this shift in light of the funeral liturgy being a memorial of the paschal mystery. It (1) sketches the shift that occurred in the revised funeral rite, (2) presents a detailed study of the new Flemish approach towards the funeral liturgy, using the diocese of Hasselt as an example, and (3) evaluates this new approach to the funeral liturgy, specifically from the perspective of the liturgy as a memorial of the paschal mystery. Finally, some conclusions regarding this case from a liturgical-theological and pastoral point of view are formulated. Keywords Funeral liturgy, paschal mystery, Vatican II, memorial Introduction In him the hope of blessed resurrection has dawned, that those saddened by the certainty of dy- ing might be consoled by the promise of immortality to come. Indeed, for your faithful, Lord, life is changed not ended, and, when this earthly dwelling turns to dust, an eternal dwelling is made ready for them in heaven.1 1) This Preface for the Dead I originated in the 1738 Parisian Missal and was added to the Roman Missal by Pope Benedict XV in 1919, the first such addition in more than eight centuries. See Anthony ardW and Cuthbert Johnson, The Prefaces of the Roman Missal: A Source Compendium with Concordance and Indices (Roma: Centro Liturgico Vincenziano, 1989). Hosting Transcendence in Immanence | Van Braak 83 Yearbook for Ritual and Liturgical Studies 36 (2020) 83–97 This excerpt from Preface I for the Dead is a good summary of a Christian perspective on death, which in this case is also connected to the resurrection of Christ. In this paper, I will investigate a recent shift in the Flemish Roman Catholic funeral rite from the perspective of the paschal mystery.2 Since the Second Vatican Council, the memorial of the paschal mystery has become the focal point of all liturgy, which also has had consequences for the Roman Catholic funeral liturgy. In recent years, however, the execution of this funeral rite has experienced some major changes in Flanders, resulting in a new litur- gical reality: the celebration of a funeral liturgy without the Eucharist, led in many parishes almost ex- clusively by lay presiders. In order to understand this phenomenon better, I will first briefly sketch the shift that occurred in the revised funeral rite after the Council, focusing on the paschal mystery. Then, I will present a more detailed study of the evolutions in the liturgical prescriptions and the execution of the funeral liturgy in the Flemish dioceses using the example of the diocese of Hasselt. Finally, I will evaluate this new form of the funeral liturgy, specifically from the perspective of the liturgy as me- morial of the paschal mystery, and I will draw some conclusions regarding this case from a liturgical, theological, and pastoral point of view. 1 The paschal mystery in the revised funeral rite of 1969 I will not present a complete historical overview of the many changes the funeral rite has undergone – this has been done elsewhere.3 I will, instead, focus on the paschal mystery. As R. Ferrone and many others have argued, “the paschal mystery is without a doubt the central theological concept of the liturgical renewal advanced at Vatican II”.4 Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC) has only two paragraphs on the funeral rite, one concerning the funeral rite for children, no. 82, and the previous one, which states that the rite for the burial of the dead should express more clearly the paschal character of Christian death, and should correspond more closely to the circumstances and traditions found in various regions. This holds good also for the liturgical color to be used.5 2) This article was first presented as a paper at the Societas Liturgica Conference of 2019 in Durham, which had as its theme “Anamnesis: Remembering in Action, Place and Time”. 3) For a general introduction, see for example Richard Rutherford, The Death of a Christian: The Rite of Funerals, Studies in the Reformed Rites of the Catholic Church 7 (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1990). Very useful from a theological, liturgical, and pastoral view is Thomas G. Long, Accompany Them with Singing: The Christian Funeral (Louisville: Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, 2009). For an extensive empirical study on (Roman Catholic) funeral rites, see Thomas Quartier, Bridging the Gaps: An Empirical Study of Catholic Funeral Rites. Empirische Theologie, Bd. 17 (Wien: LIT, 2007) and Thomas Quartier and Chris A. M. Hermans, “Roman Catholic Funeral Liturgy and Human Finitude: Empirical Explorations of Life, Death and Afterlife in Connection with Liturgical Memory,” in Discourse in Ritual Studies, ed. Hans Schilderman (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 199-228. 4) Rita Ferrone, Liturgy: Sacrosanctum Concilium, Rediscovering Vatican II (New York: Paulist Press, 2007), 23. 5) SC 81, emphasis added. I have used the English version found on the Vatican’s website: www.vatican.va. For your Faithful Lord, Life is Changed not Ended | Goyvaerts 84 Yearbook for Ritual and Liturgical Studies 36 (2020) 83–97 At the outset of the chapter on the various other sacraments and sacramentals, the Council fathers state that “the paschal mystery of the passion, death, the resurrection of Christ, [is] the font from which all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power”.6 In several ways, this new orientation is reflected in the revised funeral rite. The Belgian liturgist J. Lamberts has shown how the new liturgical ordo stresses death more as an Easter-event in compa- rison to the Tridentine rite.7 In the latter, hymns and responsories such as the Dies irae and the Libera me are exemplary of a perspective on death that stresses the fear of judgment and subsequent pu- nishment for one’s sins. The former is sung as the sequence during the Tridentine requiem mass, while the Libera me is used as part of the Absolution of the Dead after the conclusion of the requiem mass and before the burial. The perspective on death of the Libera me is clear from its first two stanzas: Deliver me, O Lord, from death eternal on that fearful day: when the heavens and the earth shall be moved, when thou shalt come to judge the world by fire. I am made to tremble and fear, until the judgment will come, and the coming wrath. When the heavens and the earth shall be moved.8 A very different perspective is evident in the first paragraph of the introduction of the revised funeral rite, in which the paschal mystery becomes the horizon against which the entire rite has to be inter- preted: The Church confidently celebrates Christ’s paschal mystery in the funeral liturgy of her children, that they who through baptism are united to Christ, who died and was raised, can pass with Him through death into life.9 6) SC 61. 7) Jozef Lamberts, “De rooms-katholieke uitvaartliturgie,” in Levensrituelen. Dood & Begrafenis, eds. L. Leijssen et al., KADOC-Studies 31 (Leuven: Universitaire Pers Leuven, 2007), 119-35. Also compare Rutherford, The Death of a Christian, 115 ff, and the somewhat older A Goumans,“ Hopen op verrijzenis. Grenzen en ruimte van deze thematiek in het vernieuwde romeinse rituale van de uitvaartliturgie,” in Tijdschrift voor Liturgie 64 (1980): 209-27. 8) S. Sedis Apostolica et Sacrorum Rituum Congregationis Typographi, Graduale Sacrosanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ. De tempore et de Sanctis (Paris, Tournai, and Rome: Desclée, 1961). “Libera me, Domine, de morte æterna, in die illa tremenda:/ Quando cœli movendi sunt et terra,/ dum veneris iudicare saeculum per ignem.// Tremens factus sum ego, et timeo, dum discussio venerit, atque ventura ira./ Quando cœli movendi sunt et terra.” 9) My translation of the Latin praenotanda: “Paschale Christi mysterium in filiorum suorum exsequiis fidenter celebrat Ecclesia, ut illi, qui Christi mortui et suscitati per Baptismum concorporales actif sunt, cum ipso per mortem transeant ad vitam.” Like the Flemish version, the English version is also not a literal translation, although of course the same ideas are evident. For the edition typica I have used Cuthbert Johnson, Christian For your Faithful Lord, Life is Changed not Ended | Goyvaerts 85 Yearbook for Ritual and Liturgical Studies 36 (2020) 83–97 According to Lamberts, this paschal dimension of the funeral liturgy is expressed by celebrating the rite in the context of a Eucharist.10 This is, however, not a requirement. The paschal mystery is further expressed by the presence of the paschal candle and the use of the liturgical color that – according to the introduction – should testify to the Christian faith in light of the paschal mystery.11 There is a sprin- kling with the water of baptism, first at the entrance of the church, secondly during the final commen- dation at the end of the rite, and a third time at the location of burial. Likewise, in the prayers, hymns, and Scripture readings, the memorial of the paschal mystery in the revised Roman Catholic funeral rite is one of the main themes.12 For example, in the rite of final commendation, an important rite within the entire funeral service, this change of perspective becomes very clear.